Indian Removal and the Trail of Tears

The Dive

By the 1830s, the United States was driven by a powerful hunger for land. White settlers, politicians, and speculators set their sights on Native lands in the Southeast, especially after gold was discovered on Cherokee territory in 1830. This same year, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, giving the federal government a legal framework to pressure or force tribes to cede their lands and move west of the Mississippi.

The Cherokee Nation, along with the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole, resisted removal through diplomacy, cultural adaptation, and even the U.S. courts. In 1832, the Supreme Court ruled in Worcester v. Georgia that states had no authority over Cherokee territory. Yet President Andrew Jackson reportedly ignored the ruling, signaling the government’s intent to press forward regardless of legal or moral objections.

In 1835, a small, unauthorized group of Cherokees signed the Treaty of New Echota, agreeing to give up all lands east of the Mississippi in exchange for $5 million and territory in present-day Oklahoma. The vast majority of Cherokees, led by Principal Chief John Ross, opposed this treaty, but the U.S. Senate ratified it by just one vote, effectively sealing the fate of the Cherokee homeland.

By May 1838, federal troops and state militias began rounding up Cherokee families at gunpoint, forcing them into overcrowded, unsanitary stockades. In the fall and winter that followed, approximately 16,000 Cherokee were marched 800 miles west under brutal conditions—cold weather, inadequate food, little shelter, and rampant disease.

The suffering was immense. Around 4,000 Cherokee died from illness, starvation, and exposure along the way—sometimes entire families perished. Survivor accounts describe the grief of leaving ancestral lands, the cries of children, and the silent endurance of elders and warriors.

Those who survived rebuilt in Indian Territory, establishing a new Cherokee capital at Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and continuing their cultural and political traditions despite the trauma. Meanwhile, a small group who escaped removal became the Eastern Band of Cherokee in North Carolina, preserving a continuous Cherokee presence in their ancestral homeland.

Why It Matters

The Trail of Tears is a stark example of how U.S. government policies, driven by expansionist ambitions and economic interests, can strip away the rights, land, and dignity of entire communities. It exposes the deep contradictions between America’s stated ideals of liberty and justice and its actions when political gain outweighs human rights. For the Cherokee and other tribes, it was both a profound tragedy and a testament to resilience, as survivors rebuilt their communities, governments, and cultures despite immense trauma. Studying this history challenges us to confront the long-term consequences of injustice, to critically examine the balance between national growth and human rights, and to uphold the principles of sovereignty and human dignity for all peoples.